Positively Cunt
You’d think cunt would be used a bit more
widely than in the context of an insult.
It’s meant to describe one of the most
sacred spots of the female body.
‘Cunt’ is no more reprehensible
than ‘rape’ or murder’, words
which don’t make us shudder.
I Love Your Cunt
Undeniably, there is a richness & audacity to cunt that
overpowers any & all descendants of original dirty language.
Same thing goes with the word pussy (which unfortunately
has also been used & abused in ways that have altered
it into a derogatory adjective).
Though it doesn’t encompass the same kind of verve that
cunt does, pussy is one word that many women tend
to shy away from — myself included.
I’m loath to refer to my vulva as “pussy,”
though in times of sheer, unadulterated
pleasure this word has escaped my mouth.
Pussy is just one of those words that has
always left a bad taste in my mouth
(no pun intended, I assure you).
I can’t say it without sounding careless.
Perhaps it’s the grimy way in which it’s used in porn.
X-rated film actors hiss & grunt pussy without much grace.
It sounds like something out of the 1980s.
Cunt would be a pleasant change.
The only time I’ve ever heard the words cunt & pussy used
in a relatively positive light has been in written erotica.
It works because I am left to my own devices,
to discover & pronounce those words in my own tone,
with my own security & carefulness.
The way in which Anais Nin, for instance, used cunt
in her writing is pertinent, titillating,and — dare
I say? — beautiful.
Erotica (at least in what I’ve read) is more
likely to use cunt with acceptance & grace.
Cunt Pride
Cunt is much easier on the eyes than when
it is vocalized with the mouth.
So is it possible to reclaim this word?
It is possible to reconstruct it from a
censored slur to a good & rightfully
explicit word used positively.
Perhaps in the way the Italians do when they
refer to something as fichissimo, which literally
translates as “the cuntest” — meant as a superlative
to describe something as very good or “cool.”)
Can we move from using tawdry verbiage like va-jay-jay
to describe women’s succulent genitalia, & instead
replace it with something more brazen & sumptuous like cunt?
We have have the power to dramatically transform
the hold strong words have over us.
We have it in us to escape from vocabulary bondage and
see a word like cunt as a feminist blessing, not a curse.